East Bridgewater splits with Abington, stays in first

The East Bridgewater High baseball team split a double-header with Abington on Tuesday to remain in first place in the South Shore League.

Chris McDaniel cmcdaniel@wickedlocal.com @ChrisMcDaniel88

ABINGTON – On Tuesday, the word of the day for the East Bridgewater High baseball team was “rebound.”The Vikings started off by losing in 12 innings, 2-1, to Abington, continuing a game from April 7, then recovered to win the nightcap, 7-0, to remain in control of the South Shore League title race.

In the first game, which resumed play in the 11th inning with the score tied at 1, the Green Wave (9-4, 8-2 in SSL) scored the winning run on a throwing error by pitcher Connor Gavin.

Gavin responded by tossing a four-hit shutout with no walks and seven strikeouts in the second game.

“I’m very happy with the way we rebounded,” said EB coach Pat Cronin. “I told the kids if you come out of today with at least a split, it’ll be a good day.”

With the bases loaded and two outs in the third inning in the second game, EB third baseman Jake Pierce broke it open with a rip to center field that rolled all the way to the JV field for a grand slam and a 7-0 lead.

“It was timely,” said Cronin of the grand slam. “We needed it at that point and he needed it too because he’s struggling a bit at the plate. He just happens to hit it in the right spot in the gap and he keeps coming around. That kind of breaks it open.”

Brian O’Donovan was the hero for Abington in the first game.

After the Green Wave stranded a runner on third in the 11th, O’Donovan, a pinch-hitter, led off the 12th with a double to center field. Sean O’Brien pinch ran and scored from second on a sacrifice bunt by Vinnie Picardi and Gavin’s throwing error.

“He’s been one of our consistent hitters,” said Abington coach Steve Perakslis of O’Donovan. “He’s a very good fastball hitter and their pitcher was throwing a lot of fastballs, so we figured we’d give it a shot.”

The Vikings (11-1, 9-1 in SSL), who stranded the tying run in the bottom of the 12th inning of the opener, responded immediately in the top half of the first inning in the second game.

Mike Kelly led the game off with a single and Ty Jenkins (2-for-4, two runs scored) sent Kelly home with an RBI triple to left field.

Gavin pulled the next pitch down the line for a double that plated Jenkins and spotted himself a two-run lead on the mound.

“I was really impressed with the way we came up and pounded the ball,” said Cronin.

Before Pierce’s grand slam in the third inning, Ryan Graham led the inning off with an infield hit. Ty Jenkins followed Graham with his second extra-base hit, a double, of the day, putting two runners in scoring position.

Graham scored on an RBI single by Cam Troup to give EB a 3-0 edge.

The Green Wave couldn’t catch a break in the second game, hitting into three double plays in the first four innings.

Two of the double plays went 4-6-3, with Kelly at second base and Troup at shortstop.

In the fourth inning, with two on and one out, Abington’s Matt Whalen laced a liner at Graham, EB’s first baseman. Graham made the catch and beat Jake Quinlan (2-for-3, double) back to the base with a dive to end the threat.

“We hit a couple balls real hard at people and they were right at them, but that’s part of the game,” said Perakslis. “We didn’t hit enough of them hard. You fall behind early against a quality team like that and it is really tough to come back.”

Gavin got stronger as the game went on, recording five of his strikeouts in the final three innings.